photo: www.anthonygrote.com

After a tough 07/08 World Series season, Oscar Chalupsky retains his World No. 1 ranking despite finishing 5th in the Durban World Cup. At 45 years of age, this is an amazing achievement.

Let’s hope Oscar can make it to Singapore in November for a surf ski clinic.

Ocean Racing is one of the most exciting paddling sports today, and ocean racing boats are at the forefront of paddling technology. Big swells or winds, what come may, it is an incredible feeling powering an Epic ski on a downwind course.

At Epic, we are passionate about growing this sports further and share with others the excitment and fun of ocean racing. That is why Epic ambassadors around the world are working hard to make ocean racing accessible through better boats, events, and paddling clinics.

This is also the philosophy of Epic Singapore. We are working hard to make boat storage accessible, organizing races and cllincs, and growing with other epic paddlers here. Already Epic is the most popular brand for high-performance personal fitness kayaks and paddles in Singapore. For many paddlers, owning an Epic is a memorable milestone in their ‘paddling career’.

Epic Kayaks is distributed by Kayakasia Paddlesports.

Last Sunday, I took part in my first competitive kayak race since ’93. Almost 15 years ago.

The tension and worry was unbearable. It was not helped that I had not paddled for the last 4 months, first time on the surf ski, and arrived back in Singapore 2 days before the race.

On Saturday, a day before race day. I went with Dean Beament for a test paddle. Dean is an accomplished ocean racer from Perth, who flew in specially for the race. One of the top 20 ocean paddlers in the world.

We paddled the race course leisurely. I was trying to figure out the balance and the foot pedal rudder. Both were new to me. Dean was very kind enough to show me the basic of paddling on a ski, and racing/sprinting basics.

START

Race day. Over 300+ paddlers getting ready. We were in the 4th or 5th group to be flagged off. It was mass chaos, with everyone taking their strokes and the kayaks surging forward at the same time. Clashes, knocks, and even capsizes! I stayed out of the way, fearing for my balance, in the end was a good decision, as I escaped the muss. And I was first out!

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Dean was powering forward. I took my hard strokes, and the foot pedals dislocated… darn! Everything should be checked before races, yet I was too nervous to think about that. I did not want to chase, so took the decision to complete 1 round before I stopped by the shore to adjust. Probably not a wise decision, since I could not kicked for strokes.

The shaft of the wing paddle was larger than what I used to with my sea kayak paddle. Before long my right hand froze and became numb. Lifting the paddle became painful.

Last night, I had put a hydration pack at the back of my PFD, with a feeding tube. It worked well enough for the first few slips, but after it became very difficult to suck. I ended up breathless from all the attempts to suck out the water.

Chocolate. What an old-school food. In expeditions, we eat lots of chocolates to give energy. Now the right thing to eat is ‘energy drink’. While Dean had his booster in his neat squeeze bottle, I peeled off the wrapping and threw the chocolate into my footwell.

I was looking at the brown shit the whole race, containing my hunger and urge to reach for it. Finally I could not held it longer, and at the half way mark, made a grab for it. Ump! Sugar rush yes, but my hands were then too oily to hold the paddle!

Getting passed by 14-year old kids were definitely not the morale boosting thing I have in mind. I set myself targets of chasing and passing kayaks infront, but these kids kept passing me. They have a shorter race and they were sprinting their butts off.

Anyway, I finished last in a time of 2 hrs 34 mins for the 22km race. Dean finished first with a time of 1hr 48mins. Next year I want to improve.

LESSONS FROM DEAN:

- practice in your boat and make sure all parts are race-ready
- punching strokes, twist, and pull. glide…
- sit upright, not lean. who cares leaning forward to catch water like we were taught?
- kick!
- boost half hour before race, and half hour before race ends to prevent sugar slump.

When it was prize-giving, I was shocked that there were less than 10 paddlers, like me, who were non-students. All the rest of the competitors were students. Where were the rest of the paddlers? In a way, it was good to see participations from schools, but sad to know that many of them would not be paddling once they leave school.

It was great meeting Dean, a gentleman and great paddler. He told me of the gale-force winds in Perth for ocean paddling races. Now that would be something to train and look forward to…

http://www.kayakasia.org

The spiritual home of flatwater racing in Singapore. 15 years ago there were more Ts than Ks. When I went for a paddle there recently, fast, sleek looking Ks were everywhere. And they added the Cs, too. Young paddlers now have better equipment to train and enjoy their paddling.

Over the weekend, there was a record number of entries in the National Championships. SCF told me over 600+ paddlers signed up for 2 days of flatwater sprinting events.

Looks like kayaking is really taking off in Singapore.

http://www.kayakasia.org